Hi, I'm Scott, the founder of https://www.mintboys.com. Yes, you're correct that those messages weren't a bot. We've personally reached out to people like you to invite to be in our site.
We're just getting started at MintBoys, but all of the site features are now active. We're in a handful of cities now and planning to expand to more soon. Since we're a new website, we're allowing escorts to advertise for free.
MintBoys is different than the other websites - our vision is bring the male escort industry out of the shadows and to make escorting legal and safe. We do this by including clear disclaimers stating that money is exchanged for time only, not sex. We screen all profiles to make sure that all photos and content are consistent with this message. We advise all clients and escorts not to agree to exchange money for sex when communicating. We want to protect not only ourselves, but the escorts and clients.
Since the collapse of RentBoy (the original one), I think many people are now aware of the risks involved with the old male escorting model. I know people that had advertised on RentBoy up until it was shut down, and decided to stop escorting because they didn't want to risk getting caught and having criminal record. I assume there are clients that stopped meeting people for the same reason. We want to provide a safe, legal way for them to come back.
A little bit of background on me: I was an escort for 7 years, and advertised on the original RentBoy. Later on, after I quit working as an escort, I became a client that regularly meets people from these kind of websites. So I think this gives me insight into the needs and concerns of both clients and escorts.
I'm happy to answer any questions.
Best,
Scott